Cray Serves as Guide Runner at U.S. Paralympics Track Championships

The B-CU hurdler will assist impaired athletes in their races at this weekend's national meet in Miramar, Fla.

	Though volunteer work is familiar to Cray, this is a first-time experience for the B-CU junior

June 17, 2010

Call T&F Contact Michael Stambaugh for more details - 386.481.2278 -

MIRAMAR, Fla. - Bethune-Cookman track & field's Eric Cray is headed out to the U.S. Paralympics Track & Field National Championships, set to begin June 18 at the Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar. Cray, a junior Wildcat hurdler and sprinter will serve as a guide runner for one of the talented Paralympics athletes.

U.S. Paralympics is a division of the U.S. Olympic Committee and is recognized as the world leader in the paralympic movement and providing athletic opportunities for athletes with disabilities. The Paralympics are for athletes with physical and visual impairments, have several categories. Athletes are classified into groups by condition, including wheelchair paralysis, visual impairment, cerebral palsy and dwarfism. Many competitors are military veterans who have suffered traumatic brain injuries or amputations.

This is where a guide runner may come into play; with a visually impaired athlete, they may need assistance in remaining in their lane or calculating distance remaining in the race.

“I’m excited for the opportunity to learn a different way to train people, and give me a different way of looking at running track." said Cray, who assists in the training of AAU athletes when he returns to San Antonio, Texas during the summer.

This type of volunteer world is extremely familiar to B-CU track Head Coach Donald Cooper, who has served as a guide runner on several occasions at the highest levels, including the 2004 Olympic Trails (exhibition race), the 2004 Paralympics Games in Athens, Greece, and the 2005 ESPOO International Paralympics Committee Athletics European Championships in Helsinki, Finland. Cooper was also brought in to appear in the official training video for guide runners, presented by the U.S. Paralympics, in conjunction with U.S. Association of Blind Athletes, entitled "Basics of Guide Running for Track & Field and Trail".

"It will help me grow as a teacher," says Cray, "because I will need to explain things in better depth, with helping to run through the line, letting the athlete know when to lean at the line, and stay in their lane. It may help me with my own running, because it could make me more patient with my event."

Cray, one of B-CU's competitors at the 2010 NCAA East Regional Championships, left for Miramar on Thursday to get settled in and acquainted with the athletes he will be assisting.

"After I’ve taken running as far as I can," Cray concludes, "what I really want to do is coach at the collegiate level."

As Coach Cooper will let him know, this type of volunteer work can be very rewarding and help him to move ahead on his own path.

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